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This study presents a process coupling paradigm to incorporate three-dimensional baroclinic effects into a depth-integrated model from a large-scale ocean model. The depth-integrated finite-element model, ADCIRC provides high-resolution to the coastal area and has been shown to be extremely accurate for storm surge modelling. However, along the USA East and Gulf coasts there are noticeable seasonal and inter-annual trends in the coastal sea level that are not typically captured by ADCIRC. We present the effects of introducing baroclinic terms computed from HYCOM into ADCIRC in order to improve modeled coastal hydrographs throughout the year of 2012 and during Hurricane Sandy.